Augmented reality (AR) systems may augment an operator's real-world reality by overlaying real-world targets with graphic images within the operator's Field of View (FOV). Accordingly, an operator may view, assess, and make decisions based on those images without ever looking away, and thus, the operator's experience and perception of reality may be enhanced by an AR system.
AR systems have been implemented in a number of applications, including but not limited to automobiles, aircraft, trains, helmets, and glasses. For example, AR systems have been used in automobiles to enhance an operator's ability to perceive the road scene, thereby reducing operator perception accidents. AR systems have also been developed for military vehicles, helmets, and glasses to enhance a soldier's ability to perceive the battlefield environment, including the ability to quickly identify a target as friend or foe, and even the ability to track targets in poor environmental conditions. AR systems have also been implemented in aircrafts. For instance, AR systems may assist a pilot-in-training with his or her approach slope for landings by highlighting the slope with virtual images.
AR systems have the ability to substantially enhance an operator's experience and safety. As noted above, AR systems can reduce the number of automobile accidents caused by operator perception and inattention by highlighting real-world targets that may be potential road hazards. Despite the apparent benefits of an AR system, a system may be detrimental if it decreases the resolution or accuracy of the operator's native senses (i.e., the operator's perception of reality without augmentation). Accordingly, it is imperative that virtual images projected by an AR system be spatially accurate to the operator's real-world perception of reality.
An AR system may be detrimental to an operator if the virtual images projected by the system are misaligned (i.e., the virtual images are not positioned correctly with respect to the real-world targets they are intended to overlay) and/or the virtual images are distorted. Misalignment and distortion can be caused by a number of factors, including the constraints of sensing, registration, graphics rendering, and display units of an AR system, the orientation of the operator or the operator's vehicle in transport, the kinematics of the operator with respect to a real-world target, system latency, and mass production build and mounting variation of AR system parts that have a bearing on the functionality and accuracy of an AR system, such as a windshield of an automobile. AR systems having low latency and capable of producing aligned, substantially distortion free, high accuracy virtual images overlaying real-world targets have not been achieved, especially those systems produced on a production scale. Thus, there is a need for an improved augmented reality alignment system and method therefor that solves these noted challenges.